


Rollin': The Tale of Two Guys in the West

by Tezca



Category: Country Music RPF
Genre: American Indian, Cherokee!John, Gen, M/M, Native American AU, alternative universe - Western
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 04:11:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1968522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tezca/pseuds/Tezca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kenny and his close friend for over 4 years were currently running down the muddy street, being pursued by a mob of angry drunks. It didn’t help that it was raining hard too, the mud was splashing up all over their clothes as Kenny held onto the smaller man via an arm around his waist, and his hat with with other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rollin': The Tale of Two Guys in the West

**Author's Note:**

> So.......a long time ago John Rich called someone out on Twitter and in it he mentioned he was 1/16th Cherokee, my mind started churning on an interesting AU idea like what if John was full Cherokee and stuff. So that led me to thinking more on it and then decided to set it around the time the Trail of Tears was happening and afterwards, the late 1830's and early 1840's and coming up with an appropriate Cherokee name for John in this fic. This version of John Rich is called Wohali which means eagle according to the internet.
> 
> Also its funny that one little tweet that John made in calling someone out, led me to write this long ass fic lol.

Kenny and his close friend for over 4 years were currently running down the muddy street, being pursued by a mob of angry drunks. It didn’t help that it was raining hard too, the mud was splashing up all over their clothes as Kenny held onto the smaller man via an arm around his waist, and his hat with with other.

“Did you really have to threaten to jam a broken beer bottle up their asses?” Kenny asked, as he looked ahead ahead of him after he took a glance at his long haired Indian friend.

“Hey, I didn’t see you trying to calm everyone down for very long loving everybody farm boy!” His friend quipped back, still clinging to the taller man’s body.

“Well this was different they insulted y...oh shit!” Kenny said just as they just both heard guns going off behind them and over their head, which prompted him to carry Wohali(or John Rich if the boys needed to use an alternative name) and hightail it out of there towards his childhood home. 

“I was damn ready to take them all on Kenny!” Wohali shouted back, he referred to just 10 minutes ago when Kenny was holding him back and because Kenny was stronger, he was able to successfully drag his friend out of a potential melee he would’ve been in. 

“They were all taller than you, they would've easily beaten you up!.” Kenny said, shouting back using logic. He knew his friend was still young so therefore he still made mistakes and learning from them, just like he was ten years ago when he was 22. He knew Wohali was at that age where they think they know everything, but luckily he was naturally curious to learn about everything and able to learn quickly. Plus it helped that Kenny had ten years on him.

“So? I would’ve been able to take them down! Remember who was the one that took down that bandit back west a year ago?” The smaller man said. He currently held a cowboy hat in his hands he got while they passed through Texas a while after they first met.

Kenny didn’t really time to argue with him as he was too busy running through the back roads trying to dodge the mob after them. They were all drunk so the boys probably lost them a while ago, but Kenny didn’t want to take any chances on that. He knew that even drunk those boys can really hurt someone that pissed them off. He didn’t dare to look back either. It was good thing he can see the farmhouse coming up and one of his siblings out on the porch gazing at the stars.

“Charleen! Charleen open the door!” Kenny yelled, which startled Charleen who sat in the rocking chair and took in the comfortable July Virginian night. She immediately got up and looked to see her brother carrying what looked liked his Native American boy in his arms. 

“What did you and your friend do?!” She shouted from the top of the steps as Kenny made it through the gate. She then opened the front door for her baby brother to run inside and finally able to stop and take a breath. Charleen had come to expect this kind of antics from her brothers whenever they were out on the town. While Kenny didn’t get into a lot of trouble, her other brothers Robert and Wallace sure did, such as pissing off people at bars while getting drunk.

Charleen rolled her eyes because she come to be numb to the ways of her younger brothers,even if Kenny didn't get roaring drunk as often, “And you guys are wet...here let me go get you two some dry clothes...” Charleen started off then turned to faced the boys as Kenny put Wohali back on his feet. Charleen was looking at Kenny’s friend, “What’s your name?”

“Wohali miss.” He said and Charleen smiled all friendly and nodded.

“Alright, I think Robert is close to your size, just go to the bedroom and I’ll get the clothes,” Charleen stated before she walked off down the hallway towards the laundry room. Wohali watched her walk down a second before he turned his head to Kenny.

“Your sister is nice.”

“Yeah, we’re an accepting family, they were all against the treaty too. Plus we helped some people escape to Canada when I was around your age.” Kenny said in a more somber tone, he wanted to reassure his friend that his family wasn’t following the same popular opinion regarding Native Americans, He and Wohali didn’t like to talk about the treaty to much, otherwise they’ll both end up in a 2 hour long rant. 

The two took off their wet jackets and hung it up on the on the wall before they headed to what was Kenny’s bedroom when he was younger. He was pleasantly surprised to see it didn’t seem to change from the last time he remembered it, he always did like where he grew up so after a few years of being away, it felt good to come back to his place of birth. 

Kenny and Wohali took their shirts just as Charleen came back with the clothes, “When you guys come back out I want to know what the hell exactly happened…” Charleen said in a mock and teasing motherly tone before she closed the door to give them privacy.

“How long are we staying here?” Wohali asked as he started to get change out of the wet closed to the dry ones

Kenny shrugged a bit, he wanted to visit for a bit, after all he hasn’t seen his siblings in a long time since he decided to help the Indians on the much hated removal thing the government enacted. He had always been against the removal act and was distraught to see it happening. He went as a physician because the least he could do, he figured, was to help as many as he could to stay alive. 

That was how he met his close friend, well he met another friend Gretchen but she and her brother decided to head elsewhere when they parted ways. He and Wohali had decided to travel more west while the Wilson siblings decided to head northeast.

“I figure maybe a couple of days then head out. Still want to check out New York City?”

“Hell yeah, I’m curious to see it from what you told me about it.”

“Alright then. We can spend a week there then head to Canada,” Kenny said with his back towards Wohali as he pulled on his pant and tighten it before he faced him.

“Should I go by John Rich when we get there? You can even call me Johnny boy if you want.” 

“Hmm, lets see how things are.” Kenny said as he helped Wohali dry his hair off the best he could.

“Worse come to shove you can just do what you’ve been doing all the other times….use my name in private, foolproof!”

“Haha yep…” Kenny said as he dried his own hair before tossing the towel on the bed and opened the door for his friend to go first and him following after. They went back to the kitchen where Charleen was just finishing up dinner and putting the plates on the table. 

The door opened to Kenny’s two other brothers arriving from town just as Kenny and Wohali came to the dining room. The two other brothers greeted and hugged Kenny as it was obvious they haven’t seen each other in a long time before they greeted his friend, whom Kenny introduced.

“Sound like Wally could be a nickname of yours too…” Wallace teased lightly, who caused Kenny to give him a warning glare. Wallace put up his hands to mean he meant no harm, “Relax I was just joking William, it just sounded like it could be a nickname thats all….”

“Its fine really, but don’t call me Wally unless you want me to practice my punches again.” Wohali pointed at Wallace before sitting as as Kenny shot him a look.

“I thought we agree you weren’t gonna threaten to punch my brothers.” Kenny sat down next to him with Charleen across from him and Wohali. The other two brothers also sat down on either end of the table. This was nice Kenny thought, a nice dinner with his siblings and his friend.

“Well if they piss me off they’ll get my fist..” He replied before he looked at what was being served, he thought it looked good, “This smells good."

"It should, I learned to cook it from my mom and it's William's favorite," Charleen replied with a smile

“Are your parents around? I thought you said your parents were still alive?” Wohali faced Kenny with his question but looked at Charleen since she was the one that replied.

“They are, they just went down on a vacation, won’t be back for a few days,” Charleen said as she took a bite before moving on to what she wanted to know, plus and her brothers were curious to how the boys met, “What did happened at the bar earlier?”

Kenny pointed to Wohali, “He pissed them off and was about to get into a fight.”

“They sure did pissed me the hell off, I had every right to kick their asses, they call me a bad word.”

“Well that’s not good, I would’ve punched them straight in the face if they call me something bad...kick them in the nuts too, make them impotent...” Robert chimed in with a laugh which caused Charleen let out an annoyed sign, “How come you didn’t let him get a punch in?”

“The guys were around my height and bigger than us, Wohali is shorter than you, me or Wallace...do the math."

"I bet you tried to talked them down diplomatically at first like you usually do." Wallace injected with a knowing and Kenny nodded.

"Yes I did at first..."

"And it obviously didn't work..." He said matter of factly as he looked at Kenny. His baby brother would try and be the peacekeeper between two parties before he thinks to throw any punches, "What do I keep telling you baby brother? It never works half the time. Most of the time you have to meet them to your fist to get the point across."

Kenny shot him a look that told him to shut up while Wohali immediately looked at Wally with his own comment, "That's what I keep telling him too, the talking crap never works!" Kenny proceeded to shoot him a look as well as his brother nodded to the confirnmation to his point.

"I just prefer to use my words than breaking a beer bottle over someone's head." Kenny stated before he turned to face the table and continue eating.

Charleen agreed with him, she thought it was more productive in a situation like that to use your words rather than your fists. A minute or two passed in comfortable silence before Robert piped up and asked Kenny how he and Wohali met. The three have been curious to know, plus Kenny hasn't been back in 4 years so they wanted to know what he did during that time. 

\------------

It was four years prior, the year 1838 and Kenny was all of 28 years old when he decided he decided to head down to Ross’s Landing down in Tennessee as a doctor. He was going to accompanied a party of Cherokee Indians on the trail along with other people helping out, Kenny was one of the many that were against the removal of the Indians and just all around morally distraught by the treaty that forced the Native Americans due west from their ancestral lands. The fact that their homes were being forcibly taken didn’t sit well with his, nor his family for that matter.

He felt really bad of course and upset that something like this was happened, he wanted to help out so he thought the best he could was to be a doctor for the ride. So he had traveled down to Tennessee in late May and was just told that a party was going to leave the next day and he was to come along. Kenny had been walking around the camp with a 27 year old half Cherokee interpreter he had met down there named Gretchen. She was going to be partnered with him.

“Actually me and my brother Josh are teaching a few to speak English to stave off boredom here, they all can get by now, but not perfect yet…” Gretchen explained after the guy that spoke to them walked off. They had started walking at the same slow, comfortable pace they’ve been doing, she too though the removal and treaty were a bunch of horrible bullshit, “One of them though can swear perfectly in English, his name is Wohali, my brother and I known him for a while.” 

Kenny laughed lightly, “I see…”

“I taught him a few Spanish swear words too, I picked up enough Spanish when I was younger. Me and Josh lived down in Florida for a few years when I was a kid, so where did you come from?”

“Interesting, I never been to Florida, I heard it was lovely and I came down here from Culpeper, Virginia.”

“Cool, I don’t think I’ve been there though…” Gretchen said before she let out a sigh, “I can’t believe we’re going on something like this, this whole thing is stupid! Its basically stealing….that friend I mentioned earlier, Wohali, he got separated from his family.” Gretchen stopped walking to stand and look at Kenny.

“That’s terrible, what happened?”

“He was suppose to go on the party that went before us, but he gave up his seat for an elder.”

“Well that was nice of him, but I can’t imagine being separate from my family like that, I would be rather upset…”

“Oh it was upsetting for him, but he said the old women needed it more than him. Yeah, he can be nice and such a sweetheart, but he has a rowdy side. He’s gotten into few fights ever since he was stuck here. Me neither.”

“My brothers can be like that too, like before I came down here, the night before they got into a barfight and they were drunk,”

“I remember you telling me you had two older brothers, did you say you had a older sister?”

“Yeah, she’s the oldest then its Robert, Wallace and then me.”

“Wohali has three younger siblings a brother and two sisters, , he promised he’ll see them again someday.” 

The two walked through the camp proper and Kenny looked around, he felt appalled that the government were rounding these innocent people up like cattle and herding them elsewhere. He could see people walking around, other doctors, generals and the Indians, He followed Gretchen over to where her brother and said friend of hers were playing cards outside. The boys looked up to see Gretchen and Kenny as they walked up, Kenny behind Gretchen with a friendly smile.

“Hey, I just want to introduce my partner here he’s gonna be one of the doctors coming with us….” Gretchen started off and Kenny caught a look at who would be his future close friend. He looked beautiful Kenny thought and he couldn’t help but stare just a second too long when he caught sight of his dark eyes and his smooth dark long hair. He did also noticed that Josh wasn’t bad looking as well, in fact he was handsome too in his own right but it was the kid next to him that looked like he was in late teens/early 20’s that caught his attention and made his heart pound a little faster.

Kenny wondered how old he was, probably between 17 and 25 at the most he mentally guess before he was jostled out of his thoughts by Gretchen saying his name(thankfully as he didn’t want to look awkward right off the bat), 

“Kenny this is my brother Josh, and this is Wohali.” Gretchen said with a smile, Josh waved hi while the young boy next to him just nodded. Kenny smiled friendly and said hi back. Gretchen then turned to face Kenny, “These two are gonna be with us the entire trip, they are younger than I am and our mother is um...not around and I already told you about Wohali so I act as a guardian of sorts for them.”

“That is fine with me…”

“So where are you from Kenny?” Wohali suddenly asked in a curious voice, he and Josh were standing up now. He thought Kenny looked interesting and probably had at least interesting story under his belt since he looked a bit older than him. He did wanted to learn more about this tall, fit and blond doctor anyways, he thought that maybe they could be friends as well. He could already tell by his demeanor and facial expression that he was probably most likely different than half of the other doctors and generals when it came to talking to people like him.

“Up north, Culpeper, Virginia. Grew up on a farm.”

“Cool, me and Gretchen were born in this area,” Josh chimed in with a smile, “Our dad went up to Culpeper on his many a con trips.”

“Yeah, I was 13 at the time when he went. He always did that promising he’ll send to bring us to our permanent home, but that never happened…” Gretchen said. and a silence passed for a minute or two before she continued, “God I’m nervous about this trip, I just want everyone to make it over in one piece.”

Kenny though it was safe to assume that at least he and the three around him, as well as most others, were nervous as well. He certainly didn’t want anyone to die during the trek to Oklahoma,“Me too...they say I picked up on medicine and being a doctor rather quickly and efficiently back in Culpeper, so you have my word you’re in good hands…” Kenny teased lightly.

“That’s good then haha....so when are we leaving tomorrow?" Wohali asked.

"I heard in the morning." Kenny replied.

\-------------------------

It has only been a few weeks into late July on the trail and Kenny had already seen enough people die already to sent him into an emotional wreck. It didn't help that some of the ones he tried to get better ended up dying anyways because there wasn't anything else to do for them. Kenny just couldn’t get the image of people dying from sickness or from wounds they might’ve received along the way. He had enough for a lifetime, he could never bear seeing another human suffer.

Plus they all had to start walking in the hot summer a few days ago, which after a while made most everyone uncomfortable. Kenny felt like he needed some alone time to recuperate and get himself together, his three friends by now understood that because of his caring and loving nature, he tends to get emotional sometimes after a rough day and would need to walk off from a group for a hour or two. 

Which was the case today and Wohali had walked around the groups of people looking for Kenny. He had been thinking of an escape plan, been playing with the idea for a few days now. He knew it would be a good thing all the way around, but he was worried that it wouldn’t work or there wouldn’t be a good opportunity to escape. He also knew that other people would want to flee as well.

“Gretchen? Hey Gretchen do you know where Kenny is?” He asked in his native language, having spotted his friend help with bringing food into the camp. He had jogged up to her and she stopped to face him and point her head towards the forest.

“He ran into the woods over there, he was about to cry.” She replied and Wohali told her thanks as he bolted into the forest calling Kenny’s name out. He eventually found him sitting up against a tree with his head in his legs. Wohali was never one for talking about his feelings so he doesn’t know what to say, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know why his friend was emotional. He did and the reason was obvious, it was what made him and most of the others upset.

Kenny did have a big heart for humanity and it showed. He stood there for a second before he walked over and sat down, not really saying anything as he leaned on Kenny’s body. Kenny had heard him coming and put an arm around him, hugging him close when the younger man had sat down.

“You sure live up to your motto alright...love everybody….” Wohali said softly as he looked at the trees ahead of him before he glanced at Kenny, “Rough day huh?”

Kenny nodded and spoke in a sad and weary tone, “Yeah, two people died on me….I can’t handle this anymore I..I can’t…” Kenny signed, he wanted to keep on helping out, but at the same time he wanted to just go somewhere where he doesn’t have someone die on him every other day or so, “All this pain and suffering….”

“I can’t handle it anymore either….neither does most people here.”

“Geez...I sound more upset right now compared to you and you have more reason to be upset.”

“Yeah you would be right…...I’m just not that good with emotions….except anger I can do that.” Wohali said, having laughed a bit.

“I got that feeling three weeks ago,” Kenny said while he laughed back and smiled.

“Well I was actually thinking of escaping, you, me, the Wilson siblings and a bunch of other people…” He started off, he had caught Kenny’s attention right when he said the first part of the sentence, “You’re smart Kenny do you honestly think we can do it? Cause I don’t want to get people killed.”

Kenny mulled it over for a second, he did think it was a good idea and he had a feeling it could work, he would just need to look at a map to get the precise location of where they could do it, “I think….I think we can do it….we just need a map to precisely know where we can break off to freedom and we need tell as many people as we can without alerting the generals.”

Wohali just smiled, he knew there was a reason, among others, why he liked Kenny so much, “Great, lets go tell Gretchen and Josh.”

The two boys got up and returned without anyone ever really noticing they were gone and they took Gretchen and Josh over to a more secluded area and told them about the plan. The siblings were on board naturally, they’ve gotten tired of seeing the hardships and conditions they had to endure on the Trail.

“But how are we gonna tell everyone without alerting you know?” Gretchen asked in a whisper.

“Hmm we could...uhh I got nothing.” Josh said after a second of thinking. It was a good thing no one could really overhear them talking.

“How about we just tell them the old fashion way, whisper it and they pass it on." Kenny suggested, having no other suitable idea to do. He thought about perhapes a note being passed around, but then there was the risk of a general noticing it and thus ruining their chance. 

So that's what they ended doing after they decided on a good time and location. They thought the woods at night around them would be good enough cover and they should do it tomorrow night. So now Kenny and Wohali have just told a few people about it and were currently telling another, the latter doing the talking while the former stood watch to alert if a general was about to notice and whatnot. He was feeling good about this escape and lots of people wanted to join, he just hoped it was a success.

Just then he heard someone shout his name and he and Wohali immediately turned to see someone had walked up and handed him a rifle, "Kenny! Hey Kenny you know how to use a gun right?"

Kenny looked at him confused as he took the rifle from the other person, "Yeah why?....If you want me guard then I'll be honest I can't..."

"It's not that, it's hunting. I'm asking if you can go hunt a few more game." 

"Didn't you guys already had a hunting run earlier?"

"Yeah, but the guy miscalculated and we're a bit short on food if we want to wait a day or two before the next run."

"Alright…” Kenny said before he took a glance at Wohali then back at the guy in front of him and pointed at him, “I’ll take him along.”

“That’s fine, just keep an eye on him.” He said as he walked away. Kenny just let out an annoyed sign.

“Right…” 

The two started their walk into the woods, “I could escape now honestly….but I don’t want to escape without you Kenny, I like you a lot.”

“You do?...” He said as he looked at him. Even though Kenny knew that they both trusted each other and became good friends after only a week of traveling, it always felt good to get a confirmation like that and well, he liked him a lot too, “Likewise, you’re my rowdy buddy now.” He said with a smile, the two of them let out a laugh

For reasons that he won’t admit in public, Kenny always did felt sparks flying whenever he looked at him, he always felt them ever since the first day they had met. He found himself with a happy grin on his face feeling like his day has brighten whenever he is around him, which is pretty much any time when he isn’t off being a doctor. Aside from the Wilson siblings, Wohali was pretty much the only close friend he has there. Kenny also wondered a bit here and there if his friend have the same kind of feeling, but knew too that it would be foolish to get his hopes up that he would swing that way. He would most likely straight he would remind himself, but a part of him still hopes that he would return the favor so to speak.

The boys found a perfect spot behind a bush to hide and keep watch for any good animal to kill for food, they’ve been quiet for around 20 minutes before they stuck up a conversation in whispers so they wouldn’t scare any game away.

“Do you have any particular way you wanna go after the escape? I’m cool with anywhere but here.”

“Hmm I haven’t thought about that, I wanna make first sure that the other people get on the path to freedom safely without any risks of capture.”

“Right, we should probably stay with the group for a while and uhh…”

“Be on guard duty...” Kenny finished for him just as he saw a deer move into his sight a little ways from him and quickly aimed and took it out.

“Yeah, you have to teach me how to shoot like that Ken.”

\-------------------

It was the night of the escape and the boys were of course naturally nervous. Their minds were running a mile a minute with all the possible ways this could go wrong, like the generals waking up and noticing or they would make but would get recapture some time later. They also didn’t want any loss of life's on this breakout. The two were lying down in their beds looking at the stars. It wasn’t exactly time just yet, they were all suppose to pretend to be sleeping for about a hour or so per Kenny’s suggestion as the guards and such were mostly to be in a deep sleep.

“You’re ready to do this Kenneth?”

“Ready as I ever be Wohali.” The two laid down for a few second more before getting up, Kenny turned to see Gretchen up as well who just woke up up her sleeping brother.

“I’m nervous about this…” Gretchen admitted when she and her brother walked up.

“So are we.” Kenny said which put her at ease to know that she wasn’t in the same boat regarding the escape. It was a good night to do so as the stars and moon were out to provide some light.

“Alright people are starting to get up, we should also steal some supplies too..umm…some guys are getting food, we just need guns.”

“Yeah and we’ll need ammunition too.” Kenny said and Josh offered to help get the bullets while Gretchen and Wohali ending up stealing a few guns for the four of them. Some of the other escapees were also taking a few guns for themselves as well. Kenny ended up with a rifle and a gun by his side while Wohali had two double barreled shooters and the siblings had pistols. 

Soon the four were leading the group of people into the forest for about a good ways out silently and fast as possible. They were exactly running just yet becuase they didn't want to take the chance of waking the others up especially the people supervising. After a good 15 minutes Wohali took one look behind him off to the side to see how far enough they are from the camp before he turned to Kenny with a smile on his face.

"Time to run like hell." Kenny then smiled and took his hand as he yelled the same thing in his language to the group as well as to go, go, go! Kenny held on tight as he ran past the many trees in the forest. 

They ran for a good distance until they made it to another dirt path up north. Some though kept on running more north while others turned east or west on the path. Kenny, Wohali, Gretchen and Josh though turned west and kept on running. It wasn’t until they happened upon an abandoned farm that they decided to stop and rest. The escape seemed to be a great success, but they knew they had to either keep going to lessen the chance of capture.

Kenny was panting while he put his hands on his knees as he regained his breath, that was a fast run, but it was worth it to get as much distance between them and the camp as possible. They decided to hide out in the deserted house to get some much needed rest, agreeing to wake up early to get a move on as there was a chance there might be a search for the missing people.

“There’s only three bedrooms …” Josh announced as he came back down the steps.

“Well we can take one while you two share maybe?” Gretchen suggested, she pointed a finger at the boy on the last part of the sentence.

“That’s fine….I don’t mind sharing with any of you really.” Kenny said 

“Fine with me too really, you two can have the other two rooms…” Wohali chimed in.

“Are you sure? Cause I can share a bed if one of you rather take a room.”

The boys reassured that yes it would be fine, they didn’t really mind sharing a bed seeing how much they were already good enough friends and comfortable enough with each other. So they found themselves laying in bed clad in only pants just staring at the ceiling for the past 30 minutes, taking in the reality that yes they did lead a successfull escape and they were finally free to do whatever they wanted.

“That camp was horrible...I mean it was..." Wohali signed as he looked up at the cracks in the ceiling before turning over to face Kenny who had an attentive look. It was rare that the young man would open himself up like this, "It was...they didn't really....they didn't let us take anything when they....rounded us off Kenny..."

Kenny put a comforting arm around his friend and brought him close into a hug. He could empathize with his friend, imagining how he would feel if he and his family were forced off the land and out of the farm his family lived in for years. He felt bad for his friend and his people, the whole situation just made him feel upset, "We're free now, everything is going to be ok..." He said softly as he gently put his hand on his head and his fingers through his hair.

The two laid like that in each other's soothing arms and eventually fell asleep. Soon early the next morning the four found themselves in the back of the house, apparently Josh found a couple of abandoned horses. Fortunately the horses still looked to be in good shape, just needed to eat. Kenny wagered that it wasn't probably wasn't too long ago then that the farm was abandoned.

"Me and Josh are going north to our uncle Vern's farm...."Gretchen told the boys when they were all about to leave a bit later, "It was nice meeting someone like you. And Wohali thank you for being our friend as well....I hope your family made it over there alright.

"I was just going to ask what you guys wanted to do..." Kenny said as he chuckled with a smile as he gave her a hug before she went to hug the other man, "Oh likewise, I hope you two have a safe journey."

Wohali gave her a big hug and a big smile, "Same here, I know you two will make it there.....you're a damn good survivor Gretch, Josh is lucky you're his big sister."

Gretchen laughed and smiled again before she got on the horse. Kenny earlier had given her and Josh half of the money he brought with him when he came down to help. The four got on the horses and wished each other good luck, they also hoped to see each other later down the road. 

\----------------------------

"How old are you again? 18?" Kenny asked as he walked up to their table at a saloon, a glass of scotch in each hand.

Wohali looked up at him, "Yeah why?"

Kenny smiled and placed a glass of alcohol in front of him, the two had been riding for a couple days now since the time of the escape. They were now in Kansas just a few miles from the border to Missouri in a small town. Kenny didn’t really have to think long about giving Wohali his first taste of alcohol because he though he earned it after everything that happened.

The tall Virginian sat down across from his friend and took a drink while Wohali stared at the glass for a second then at Kenny in a bit of confusion in his voice. He had of course heard of the stuff and been wanting to try it, but he never had a drop of it before and wasn’t sure if he was old enough being two years away from 20, “You think I’m old enough to drink this?”

Kenny nodded with a smile, “Yes, you deserved it.”

“You...you think so?”

“You and your people have been through some terrible shit….I think you earned the right to start drinking.” Kenny said honestly as the other took another look at the glass before taking a sip, then another when he realized he liked the taste of beer.

“That’s good stuff,” He said before he faced Kenny and stared at him for a second with a warm smile, “Thank you Kenny.”

“You’re welcome, but since you’re still 18 I don’t want you getting drunk all the time and I’m gonna be with you….I had my first taste around your age too, actually I was 17 and that’s what my parents did, watching me until they could trust me to not get drunk.”

“When was that?”

“20, they didn’t want any of us to cause any trouble and they knew what people can do when drunk. My two brothers at the time already been to jail a few times.” 

Wohali chuckled a bit and took another satisfying drink, noticing how the sun coming in from the window behind Kenny was making his hair look more golden and radiant. The sight took him by surprise and stole his breath anyway. He didn't know what it meant exactly, this and the bit of warm feeling he just gotten in his body. He was able to will his eyes back to the table before it became akward. He took another generous swig before he faced Kenny again.

"So where are taking us? I wanna see my family too." 

Kenny shrugged, "Wherever the wind takes us, I thought we'll travel around and experience the world and I promise we will go to see your family sometime, I just feel better we do at a time where all this removal shit has calm down," He said in a rational matter and he felt bad about saying it too, he knew Wohali wanted to see if his siblings were alright and he could feel his heart sink a bit after seeing the look on his friend's face. Kenny then took one of his hands into his in a gentle hold, "I just don't want you to get recaptured and possible hurt."

"You'll probably get in trouble too Kenny, you practically deserted your post as doctor."

"Yeah," Kenny said softly and thought about things for a second, "How's this, we'll see your family in a year or so....I promise." He finished in a promising and hopeful voice. He hoped that it will work out and he’ll meet his family in the process.

Soon they got finished and got up to leave the saloon and walked into the warm mid-summer heat. They stopped though on the side of the dusty road next to their horse with no idea where to go or what to do next. The town was pretty small with only a few carriages and horses going past them and people walking around. 

“I have no clue what to do next.” Kenny finally said after a minute or two of silence, the two cracked ip a bit. Wohali had no idea and he ended up with a suggestion that they could just ride their horse and Kenny agreed so he got on with Wohali behind him.

“We could just ride along in the same direction we’ve been going in.” Wohali said and Kenny was about to ride out when he realized something, their supplies. Aside from food which they got covered with them both hunting(Wohali had told him the other day that he’ll fashion a bow and arrow sometime and show Kenny how to hunt with that), they’ve been low on other things like things 

“Oh crap...I just remember we were going to get some stuff l from the general store...’ Kenny said out loud as he checked how much money they had, “And we don’t have enough to buy a whole lot….” 

Wohali looked at him for a second before he took a glance towards the store and noticed there wasn’t anyone on the road now. He looked back at Kenny not sure how he would take the idea of stealing, but he suggested it anyways and watched his face for a reaction.

“Well….I don’t really like stealing, but we need things to survive and we’re low on money…” Kenny then moved the horse to walk down the road a bit so he could get a glance of the store as they passed by.

“Sometimes you just have to do whatever to get by, plus we have no other options Kenneth.”

“Yeah, but my mama and father told us its wrong to steal.”

“They probably haven’t been in this kind of situation,” The younger man pointed out to which Kenny paused in thought and nodded in understanding, “You stand guard, I’ll go in and steal,” Wohali said as he got off the horse and started to walk before he looked back at Kenny, “Oh and you don’t have to shoot or anything but bring your gun out, might look scarier with it.”

“Alright…” Kenny said as he got out his gun, he would just use it to look threatening and be intimidating, he wouldn’t and knows he doesn’t want to shoot anyone. He wouldn’t be able to handle it if he shot someone in cold blood. He took a breath to relax himself as he watched Wohali enter the store before he gazed at the area in front of him and the surroundings. He felt better about this knowing there really wasn’t anyone out on the road. Soon around ten minutes later, he heard his friend running out of the store and a weight behind him from Wohali having jumped onto the back of the horse with a couple of bags full of supplies as well as money. Apparently Wohali had found a couple of empty bags and a roll of money the person behind the counter had put in his pocket. Kenny knew this was the cue to start moving so he nudged the horse to start galloping down the dusty road at a fast pace with his friend holding on.

“The guy was sleeping in the back room, I was damn lucky he didn’t woke up….I was sweating though, I was nervous.” Wohali commented 10 minutes later when the horse was going at a walking pace.

“Yeah that was damn lucky, but at least we got stuff now.”

“I also found a big wad of money he tied up and put in his pocket.” Wohali said as he then got out the money from his pocket and handed it over. Earlier that day before they went to the saloon they had gotten some other clothes for Wohali in order to blend it more, they both wanted to keep the problems and conflicts down to a minimal due to how folks might react if they saw Wohali wearing his people’s traditional clothes. They both knew Native Americans haven’t gotten a good deal so far and well Kenny didn’t want his best friend to get hurt, nor Wohali getting himself hurt because of misguided and negative preconceptions.

Kenny put the wad of money in the pocket inside his jacket and continued on. There was a comfortable silence as they went along the dusty path in Kansas and taking in the beautiful scenery. As they continued they noticed another figure coming up on the road on foot. Kenny watched him to determined what he was going to do, this person looked young and he had sandy blond hair. He also started to look nervous when he finally noticed them. 

“Oh god please don’t hurt me...I...I really got nothing on me really to steal..I got nothing…” The young man started off as he backed away and the boys were confused and they both got off, “I don’t even have a gun so it wouldn’t really be fair you know…I already ran into two groups of bandits already...just let me go mates...please.”

The fact that the man before the duo was acting like they were lowlife bandits with no regard for life was starting to annoy Wohali a bit so he started speaking in an annoy tone right when Kenny was going to speak, “Would you relax already! If we were gonna kill you you would be dead already and I would’ve scalped you by now!

“Wohali!” Kenny scolded as he gave him a stern look that told him he wasn’t helping matters. He always did have a bit of a problem of saying exactly what’s on his mind.

“What!?! I don’t like it when people automatically act like I’m gonna kill them.” 

“Just stay here with the horse and let me do the talking alright?”

Wohali looked at him for a minute, giving him a glare of his own but it quickly dissipated and just let out a sigh, “Yes Kenneth.” He said, grabbing the reins while Kenny casually walked up to the other man in a calm manner.

 

“Sorry about that but my friend back there is right though, we’re not gonna hurt you. I’m guessing though you ran into a few bandits recently?” Kenny logically infer.

The man nodded and admitted it, he found that Kenny’s voice and smile putted him at ease, “Yeah twice I have, once shortly after I arrived here from Australia and another just a few hours ago.”

“I see, well my name is Kenny Alphin and that man back there is Wohali, what is yours?”

“Keith uhh, Keith Urban."

Kenny nodded and as it turned out from the conversation, Keith was a convict from England who was shipped to Australia to penal colony when he was 18 and had escaped over to America 4 years ago. He had been wondering around the west working odd jobs to earn money. At the moment he walked aimlessly east having just lost half of his hard earn money to bandits. Keith explained how little he has on him since the bandits took most of what he and so the boys offered him to come along with them until he could get back on his feet.

Keith was very grateful and smiled happily, “Sorry about earlier I uh…” Wohali started off after they began walking down the path. Keith was told that they were planning on making camp further on due to them stealing stuff from the town they just came from.

“Nah that fine mate….thats nothing compared to being yelled at by the warden.” Keith replied, he was riding on the horse behind Kenny while Wohali was holding the reins while he walked alongside the side of the horse.

“What did you do anyways to get sent over there?”

“I stole some money and jewels back in England, some of which belong to Queen Victoria even.” Keith said in a half proud voice, Wohali stopped to stare at him as well as Kenny.

“Damn you must be good to steal from a Queen.” Wohali said with admiration in his voice.

“Yeah, I mean not to sound arrogant and boastful but….well anyone would feel some sort of pride if they stole from a ruler of a country and spend 3 months without getting caught.”

“Compared to that, me stealing from the store from the small town back a ways was just dumb ameture luck.” Wohali commented as he let out a light laugh.

Keith chuckled too and smiled friendly as he faced the other man, “You have to start somewhere, that was me when I was 14 living in London. I started stealing around that age for survival pretty much..”

“Oh well to tell the truth the general store was just the next small level for me, back when I was living in my village in East Tennessee I would pickpocket and steal small things...mostly food cause some of the members of my clan made food you couldn’t resist.”

“Haha oh man I did that do, I had a list of favorite restaurants and places where they had great food, the vendors were somewhat easier to steal from if you are able to distract or knock out the seller. and I would hit those places over and over until I got caught. Then I would just cross the name off the list and move on.”

“My parents would scold you two for a whole afternoon on how bad it is to take things that are not yours if they heard this conversation.” Kenny chimed in a lighthearted tone.

“Well your parents are no fun then.” Keith joked and Wohali laughed while Kenny just playfully rolled his eyes.

"So clan member, that mean you're part of a tribe right? i heard there was one that did that..." Keith asked in a curious tone.

"Yeah, Cherokee, we actually called ourselves Tsalagi." 

"Oh that's cool. How did you and Kenny meet?" 

"Do you know about the Cherokee Removal stuff that's been going on? Trail of Tears and the act and everything..." Kenny asked and Keith took a few seconds to remember if he heard anything about that.

"Uhh...not a whole lot, I wasn't paying too much attention to politics....I was paying attention to my own survival..." Keith explained in a somewhat awkward voice, he didn't mean to not keep up with what was generally going on in his adopted country, but most of the time he didn't have time to read newspapers that much.

"That's understandable, well we met on the Trail. I was a doctor and we escaped not to long ago." Kenny then explained, turned around so he could face Keith and Wohali just looked ahead.

"Oh....why exactly were they being removed? Never understood that completely...."

"Because the government is greedy and took our lands." Wohali replied in a sharp tone before he moved to the front ahead of the horse.

"He doesn't like to talk about it too much." Kenny explained and Keith nodded in understanding.

\------------------

A couple or so hours later the three made camp and were currently sitting around the fire, Kenny was cooking dinner while the other boys were laying down on the ground and looking at the sky in comfortable silence. The only sounds coming from the fire crackling and the birds flying around in the sky. 

After a while though Wohali was the first to break the silence, "I think I need an alias just in case..." He thought out loud which caused Keith to look at him, Wohali turned his head to face him before going on any further, "A fake name to make it easier to blend into when I need to."

"How about John Rich? That was the name of the warden back in Australia." Keith said about two seconds later.

"That was fast..." Wohali cracked up a bit and so did Kenny from overhearing the two.

Keith shrugged a bit, "First name I thought off right now, I could suggest a name of one of my relatives, but I'm not that sadistic." Keith said which caused the other two to burst out laughing.

"Hmm John Rich....I like it, I'll use it."

"Well that's part settled then haha." Kenny said as he then gave some meat to the boys. 

\-------------------

Several months later the boys had ended up living at San Francisco in California and they ended up living in an apartment. They have been here for 5 months and early on the three have gotten jobs, Keith would work down at the docks while the boys got a job bartending at a nearby tavern. Wohali ended up going by John Rich there just to make it easier on himself, he didn’t want any unneeded drama bullshit just because he was Native American.

Wohali has also ended up teaching Kenny his native language in their spare time for a couple of reasons. They wanted to alleviate boredom whenever they had nothing else to do or they didn’t really want to go out, and plus Kenny wanted to learn and Wohali wanted to share more about where he grew up. By the time the boys were doing that, Keith had acquired enough money to live in a small apartment across from them, but they still hung out together.

Currently though the boys were just with each other and they were at a bookstore looking for books to buy. Kenny wanted to read some books as he liked reading and learning anout different subjects. Wohali was just looking at the pictures on some of them given he couldn’t read English yet, Kenny knew this and he meant to teach him how to read in English, but they just haven’t gotten around to it.

“Hey Kenny what’s this book?” Wohali asked after 10 minutes of looking around, he had just found a book with what he though was an interesting picture on the cover. 

Kenny walked up to his friend with two books already in one arm, he took a look at the book before he faced him, “Its called Don Quixote, I read it before….”

“Oh is it good?”

“Yeah I thought so, you might like it. I can read it to you if you want.” Kenny offered and gave that usual bright smile that no matter how much Wohali might deny it or just plain ignore, will always make him feel weak in the knees,

“Sure.” He said with a smile back and they went up to buy the books. Even if he ended up not liking the story, he would do just find just listening to Kenny speak. After they paid and everything was good, the two then decided to head back home. They had a couple of hours or so to kill before they had to go to the bar to work, so the boys ended up on the bed together, taking each other in and enjoying the time together.

The two talked about random things they did from their childhood, making each other laugh. Wohali was currently telling a story from when he was around 5 years old, “...and this person had a habit of joking with us little kids making up farfetch’d lies and shit, of course that came to bite him in the ass one day when here I was, all 5 years old standing at the edge of the forest with eagle feathers in my hand, remember I wasn’t part of the Bird Clan so I couldn’t collect them, anyways he was telling me that I had to put it back in the forest, citing the reason why….” Wohali started and he turned over on his side so he could face Kenny easier, “I wasn’t having any of it Kenny, I was a stupid kid back then…”

“So was I at that age...” Kenny injected with a laugh, “Do you know often I would be a part of my older brothers schemes to annoy my sister? Didn’t help I was naive back then.”

Wohali laughed for a good half a minute before continuing his story, “So my mom came over cause she overheard us and she knew about his propensity to tell tall tales to kids so she tells him she’ll handle it so she picks me up and basically tells me the same thing. I finally believe her and I go put the feathers back.” Hr finished as he let out another light laugh.

“Haha yeah, when you’re a kid you think your parents will never lie so you automatically believe them.” Kenny stated.

After a little while more it was time for the two to head to the bar for their jobs. They were grateful that the manager just immediately gave them their jobs. Apparently he was a little desperate for new employees after a couple of his suddenly had disappeared. The boys were also equally wanting to have jobs so it all worked out and it turned out they were just as good bartenders, maybe even better in terms of talking to the customers and such. With Kenny’s easy going and fun personality and Wohali’s tendency to be curious about every person walking in through the door that talked to him, they’ve gotten a good rep.

Also they enjoyed serving alcohol of course knowing the two.

“Hey John could you get the next customer?” Kenny asked as another custormer called him over just as another came up.

“Sure Kenny...” He said before he walked up. The man took his order and Wohali decided to strike up a conversation as he was serving him, “I have to tell you, you have an interesting accent, where you;re from?”

“Well I was born down south in Georgia, but my father came from England so…”

‘Oh neat,” Wohali by now had given them their drink, the three people he just served seemed like nice, friendly people.

“Yeah, there’s a funny story of how he ended up staying here...I’m Dave Haywood by the way” Dave greeted and the other two friends of his said their hello’s with friendly smiles.

“I’m John Rich, so whats the story if I may ask?” Wohali said in a clearly interested voice.

“Well my dad was one of the many loyalists years ago when the American Revolution was happening, he fought for the British side and claimed he would never live here….well sometime in 1776 he met my mother and fell completely in love with her. Long story short they ended up moving to Georgia and….well here I am.” Dave chuckled.

“Wow that is a interesting story…”

“Yeah,” Dave said, nodded a bit in agreement as he drank his whiskey, “My friends Charles and Hillary though it was funny that his opinion on living here changed when he met her." Dave chuckled as he took another drink. Meanwhile Kenny started to chat with a women not to far from where Wohali stood.

"Hello, what your name beautiful woman?" Kenny said after he handed a glass to a patron. He had noticed her and decided to dial on the charm a bit. His friend was used to him doing this, guys and girls alike, but he never really goes any further than sometimes getting drinks together. The reason being he never really had any feelings as strong for them as they are for Wohali.

"Christiev, it's uncommon I know." She said with a laugh and a smile.

Kenny just repaid the reaction there as he looked at her dark eyes and dark hair, kinda like Wohali's, "It's very pretty, my name is William Kenneth Alphin, but you can call me Kenny."

"Alright deal. So where are you from? I'm assuming from your accent you're not from this city..." Christiev said lightly with a flirty smile, she couldn't help it because Kenny knew how much his looks attractes people from both genders, "I have to say I love your accent."

Kenny smiled, by now he was leaning on the bar on his arms as they both were memorized by each other, "I'm from Virginia, back east. So you were born here?"

"Italy, I just moved here years ago."

"Wow. That is a long ways away...how did a pretty woman like you end up here?"

Wohali and Dave couldn't help but noticed Kenny acting all flirtatious near then, That guy can pick up any girl with that accent...."

"Haha yeah, he does this often. His height helps too I think.”

“Yeah that wouldn’t surprise me, my friend has the height thing going for me too, he looks taller than me…” Dave said as he took another glance at Kenny before he looked back at the bartender across from him and joked, “Well I do have the accent working for me.”

“Yeah...I never really attempted to flirt with a girl…” He kept up his talk with Dave as he was serving other customers near him, “Well I did once 4 years ago when I was 15, but it ended quicker then a shot of whiskey.”

Dave laughed, “You pissed her off?”

Wohali shook his head and leaned in a bit closer in Dave’s direction, “No, where I come from you couldn’t marry within the same group your parents belonged to.”

“Oh that makes it a bit tough I imagine.”

Wohali shrugged as he took another glance at Kenny who was now charming three girls plus the original he set his eyes on, “Eh what can you do? Different societies, different rules. That guy over there, his name is Kenny and I’ve been with him for over a year now, seeing the work and meeting people.”

“That’s cool. My two close friends would’ve been here tonight but they are at home with their 2 year old daughter.”

“I see, i would like to have kids myself, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. Kenny also wants some too.”

“If he plays his cards right tonight he might have a kid soon…” Dave pointed out with a laugh as he made a gesture in Kenny’s direction. Wohali laughed again and Kenny turned around and walked up to him with an arm around him.

“Hey John charm anyone today?” Kenny joked in his usual good mood that he always has most of the time. Wohali was starting to get a bit curious about Kenny’s love life before they met, did he ever dated or try to date anyone?

“No, for a second there I thought you were actually going to take one of those girls home with you.” Wohali joked back as he looked at Kenny who was all smiles.

“Kenny, could I ask you something?” Wohali asked when they were both just in the bed they shared later that night. Kenny had grabbed the book Wohali picked earlier, he was going to read it him.

Wohali was resting his head on Kenny’s shoulder as Kenny looked at him with the prettiest shade of blue he always get smitten by,, “Sure.”

“Did you ever dated before?”

“I did once when I was around your age but her dad quickly ended up the relationship...he didn’t want her to date a lowly farmboy.” Kenny replied after a second of thinking before he turned his head to face Wohali.

“Oh sorry that happened…”

“I got over it….I don’t think I felt much attraction for her as much as I though it did looking back now.” Kenny said with a big of nostalgia in his voice. He then put a strong arm around Wohali’s back and brough him closer in his embrace before he started to read to him.

\------------------

It was early June of 1841, Wohali had turned 21 a few months prior in January and the boys were now camping somewhere in the Texan countryside not to far from where they were headed towards. It was early morning and they hoped to get on the road by mid morning, Kenny was currently cooking some meat for breakfast while the other was in the nearby lake getting washed up.

It was a nice warm morning in the Texan sun and Kenny could see his friend in the water not to far with his back towards him. He had found himself taking momentary glances every now and then to make sure his friend was alright, he didn’t want to lose. His logical side tells him that unless he starts screaming for help, then everything is fine most likely. Maybe it was because in just two short years, they became the best of buddies and they look out for each other. Kenny kept an eye more on Wohali though due to him being ten years younger.

He did another one of those glances in the direction of the water to see his friend standing waist deep with his back towards him and his wet hair flowing long and sticking to his equally as wet back.. This time the sight caused him to keep his eyes fixated on the sight of his young friend bathing, The sunlight washing over him didn’t help matters and Kenny couldn’t help but feel lovestruck once again, suddenly feeling hotter inside. Once he noticed Wohali was about to turn around, he quickly went back to get breakfast out for the two of them, grateful that his friend didn’t seem to notice what he was doing as he came back up after getting dressed.

The boys ate their breakfast while talking about what they are going to do once they hit town and soon they got on the road. One of the first things they wanted to do was to find some hats as Kenny lost his and Wohali been wanting a cowboy kind of hat for a while now, so the boys entered the first place they could find.

The two people that were in the otherwise empty story got out of their seats, looking happy that they finally got customers, It made sense that the place was practically empty of other people. it was such a small town that they don’t get a lot of customers. 

The shorter blond woman walked up to the boys with a bright smile on her face, “Hello I’m Miranda Lambert and the guy behind me is my boyfriend Blake Shelton, welcome to our little store out in the middle of nowhere, how can we help you?"

"Nice to meet you Miranda, I'm Kenny and this is John," Kenny greeted back, gesturing to Wohali who had started to look at the selection of hats, "We came here cause we would like some hats."

"Well we got quite a few to choose from." Miranda explained just as Kenny took noticed of the selection of guns they had on for sale. It was an impressive collection given the size of the store and other factors Kenny thought.

He and his friend were also interested enough to look at the gun selection a store had, "I would like to look at the guns for a second..."

"Oh go ahead, feel free. I have to admit I really into guns and I know a lot about them so I can tell you about them if you want." Miranda shared as she walked over with him while Blake went over to Wohali who was browsing the hats with a critical like gaze. 

“So which hat are you thinking of getting little man?” Blake suddenly asked, bringing the smaller man out of his concentration and giving the taller man a glare.

“Watch it, I’m not little and I’m looking for a hat that the cowboys wear,” Wohali said before he grabbed a black one and put it on, Since he started traveling with Kenny he had learnt things about cowboys and ranches, he liked how the hats looked on them and told Kenny he wanted one. The two also met a few gunslingers with similar hats too and well he thought it just looked all around badass, “Hey Kenny. how does this look on me?”

Kenny turned around to Wohali pointing to his head. The first thought that came to Kenny’s mine was “dear lord he looks very handsome and attractive like that” but he knew that would cause more awkwardness than not so he refrained and opted with another reaction along with an approved smile, “I think it looks very good on you.”

“Thanks,” Wohali said with a smile back, he always did feel good inside when Kenny likes something he is wearing or doing. The reaction pretty much cemented his decision to get that specific hat and he told Blake so, “I guess you can say I heard about the ranchers and cowboys and I just ended up liking the image.”

“Yeah, hard as shit though haha. Well that hat is a good choice, it makes you look pretty badass! Especially with the long ass hair you have…” Blake chuckled, “You look more mysterious which is known to drive some girls nuts.”

“Really?” Wohali turned to face Blake again. Kenny in the meantime went over to look at the hats himself before choosing a top hat.

“Yep, the dark the more you look like you have a troubled past. Your eyes help you in that as well...you can trust me on this. I used to have longer hair myself and half the girls here would be smitten, but it got too curly and wild so Miranda had me get it cut. Plus I was told by half the folk here that I looked behind I looked like a….”

Blake suddenly realized what he was about to say when he took another look over at Wohali, he obviously doesn’t care who or what his customers are and neither does Miranda. All he could do was feel the awkwardness in the air now, but he was happy with himself that he caught it before he spoke it. Instead he just stammered out an excuse to leave, “Uhh you know what….I just remembered I forgot something in the back room….Miranda would you take over please?” 

Miranda rolled her eyes in second hand embarrassment as her boyfriend moved quickly and door shut with an audible sound, “Usually my idiot boyfriend just says things on his mind without thinking, he’s still learning to think before he speak…” Miranda just signed annoyingly at Blake, though she was glad he caught himself this time, “It what got him to be punched by a few customers and in the saloon in the past.”

“Well its a good thing he caught himself ma’am, I would’ve kicked his ass if he was going to say what I thought he was gonna say!” Wohali said in response.

“I would’ve gladly kicked his ass for you after you were done,” Miranda stated, Blake and pretty much everyone in the little town knew if they pissed her off then you better get the hell out of her vicinity unless you wanted to be in bed for the next 3 days feeling all sore, “I can give you the hats for free to make up for Blake’s almost mistake there….”

“You don’t have too, I mean you guys probably need the money and…” Wohali replied and Miranda shook her head a bit.

“No its fine really. we had another one that was passing by this morning that paid us a generous amount and we both work at the local saloon at night. Blake’s parents run the place.” She explained with a smile before apologizing on Blake behalf again and promised she’ll yell at him to be more careful and catch things earlier next time.

The boys said then said thanks and waved goodbye before they walked back out into the sun. They then got onto their horse and decided to head north to Oklahoma, Kenny have been promising Wohali once things calmed down that they will go find his family and damn him if he wasn’t gonna keep his word. So they were on the trail north and a few days later they arrived in the area where Kenny thought they would’ve gone too. 

They slowly entered the settlement and Kenny ended up staying on the horse while Wohali got off and walked further into the little village as he started to call for his mother. Kenny meanwhile noticed a few of the people there staring at him in confusion, he hoped he didn’t look threatening, maybe it was the gun by his side...shit he should’ve probably taken them off beforehand. Well he knew he wasn’t obviously going to do anything with it so he just kept his hands in front of him and his gaze on Wohali who was now asking a few people about his mother and siblings.

Just then he saw his friend run back over to grab the reins and walked over to the other side of the settlement with a skip in his step. Kenny inferred that he most likely heard good news and thus made him feel happy all around for him. Soon after Wohali called his mother’s name a couple of more time, a women finally emerged into the open along with three other people behind her. 

“Mama?” 

“Wohali? Is that you? My son?”

Kenny had by now gotten off his horse and slowly walked to the front of the horse, but still behind Wohali. He was close enough to hear the conversation and was able to understand due to the many spare times they had over the two years. He couldn’t help by smile and feel his heart warming at the sight of the reunion as Wohali ran over in happiness and hugged his mother. Kenny had to mentally tell himself not to get tearedup with joy from seeing his friend reunited. He was always a compassionate and more on the emotional side. It always been like that his whole life so to him it was hard not to cry, 

Kenny successfully block the heartwarming tears that urged to escape by diverting his gaze to the scenery while Wohali explained everything to his mother and sibling. He was currently petting the horse when he heard his name being called, he then turned to see that he was being motioned over so he walked up to stand next to Wohali as he greeted her in his best attempt at the Cherokee language. 

“Hello my name is Kenny Alphin, its nice to meet you.” Kenny said with a friendly smile and the women smiled back in much the same way while Wohali’s siblings stayed behind her with curious eyes, probably wondering why someone like him was here. 

“Nice to meet you too. My boy just told me you two met on the Trail two years ago and escape.”

Kenny nodded, “Yep we did, we became good friends fairly quickly. I was a doctor there helping out and I was paired off with his friend Gretchen, and we both also ended up staging a successful escape.”

“Yeah a whole bunch of people escaped with us and I ended up traveling around with Kenny because he was one of the few closest friends I had on the Trail mother,”  
Wohali added in, “He looked after me for the last 3 years or so.”

“That I did.” Kenny confirmed. The boys both knew that though that may seem strange to her because of the traditional matrilineal ways of Wohali’s people, but that never really matter overall, his mother plainly told him that she was just happy that Wohali had found someone like him to be his friend and to look out for him. She and Wohali’s siblings also wanted to know more details about how they both led the escape, 

“Your Cherokee was really good there man.” Wohali compliment as he walked alongside Kenny while they followed his mother to their home as they been asked to join them for dinner and stay for a few days. Kenny felt honored at the offer and the boys took no hesitation to accept it.

Kenny looked at him, smiled and repaid the compliment in that low, smooth but bit rugged voice which just caused Wohali to blush red a bit in his cheeks, “Thank you, I did have the best teacher on the planet.” 

\------------------------------

A couple of days later Kenny had the opportunity to witness a Cherokee dance and see his best friend perform in it. He was clapping along and Wohali couldn’t help but smile and laugh everytime he catches Kenny in his sight. Afterwards he immediately ran up and asked what he thought of his dancing and Kenny told him that the whole thing was amazing to see and Wohali was very good in his opinion. Wohali didn’t stop grinning for the good rest of the day.

\-----------------------------

Around a year later the boys found themselves leaving the Alphin farm a couple of days after they arrived to visit. They had told them everything about how they met and what they did during the 4 years Kenny left as well, the other Alphin siblings also catched Kenny up on what happened with them while they were gone. They all were amazed at how they orchestrated a perfect escape as well. Now the boys were headed in the direction of New York City which they soon arrived in after a day or too. 

They planned on going to a bar for the usual drink, but first they had to find a place for their horse and a hotel room for them. Once they put their bags and got settled in, they headed down and a hailed a carriage to take them to a good bar. It was a nice sunny day and the boys watched the people going by on the sidewalk and the beautiful buildings going past them out the window. The boys were feeling relaxed and they got out once they arrived. Kenny paid the driver before he followed his friend to the bar.

“We’ll both take a glass of whiskey,” Kenny said once they got up to the bar and ordered before he looked around and noticed the people doing their own thing, especially the young attractive girls and boys before he turned back to his friend with a hinting tone in his voice “There are certainly a lot of attractive women here John, pretty sure none of them are in the Wolf Clan…” 

Kenny looked around him again as Wohali blushed a tad a bit at the implication of what Kenny said. He was basically saying why don’t he try and pick up a pretty girl here to take back to the room. He sipped his glass as he looked around as well. He was right the women here were attractive and there was a very high chance none of the girls here belong to his clan, nor his father’s which was the Blue Holly one. 

“Kenny I haven’t actually tried to get a girl since I was 15…” He replied as he watched Kenny down more of his glass, “What do I do?”

“Just be yourself..." Kenny said after he downed the rest of his glass and got another. He picked it up and got off the stool as he looked at Wohali, "Watch me." 

Kenny then turned around and casually walked up to a young women over at a table and sat down next to her. He can't obviously hear what he is saying, but he could tell he was working his magic on the girl and it was working as per usual. The women smiled and looked like she was giggling at a joke he did or something. He then turned back to the bar and got a refill on his now finished glass. He took another sip and he looked around at the tables of people talking and some standing around. He took another drink as someone else sat next to him and said a casual hi.

"Hello ma'am, you can call me John."

The women smiled, noticing the cowboy hat and attire he had on, “My name is Martina McBride….you’re a cowboy I take it, you’re a long ways from Texas.”

Wohali shook his head a bit as he took another sip, “Oh no I just like the look and the you can say attitude too I guess…” He laughed before continuing, “I travel around with my best friend Kenny, he’s the one back there somewhere seducing all the women here.”

Martina giggled as she took a look behind Wohali, “He’s the tall, blond one at that table over there?” 

Wohali looked over to see Kenny now sitting at the same table with all the other seats taken by a few women. He then turned back to face Martina and nodded, “Yeah, I never understood it. Kenny could seduce any women he wants, but he never gets any further than a kiss on the cheek or hand.”

“He’s probably looking for the right one to start dating…”

He shrugged, “I don’t know, he turned one girl a few years ago that I was sure he would start a relationship with.”

“He might not be the dating type, I know a couple of people like that. So where are you from? I’m guessing you weren’t born here,” Martina said in a curious voice, she liked to meet varieties of people here, which was one of the reasons she moved up to NYC from Kansas once she was old enough. There was diversity here and more excitement in a bigger city.

“Nope, I was born down South, native as you can tell.”

“Oh ok. I came from Kansas. Me and my siblings wanted more than just small town life, we wanted some excitement so we moved up here.”

By now as the two could tell, Wohali’s friend was now standing near the wall chatting up another girl as he was drinking away his second glass. He guessed Kenny had to be somewhat drunk by now. He then turned back and kept making small talk with Martina before she had to go. She had told him that she was waiting for her husband to arrive from work. 

So now he was sitting by himself and had finished his drink a few minutes later before he decided to maybe go ahead and try and charm a few girls. Problem was he didn’t really feel any attraction to any one there besides Kenny and he seemed more interested in women, so of course that would break his heart a bit. Wohali then turned around in his seat to aimlessly look over the crowd of people, just silently observing them for a bit. After two minutes of watching random people his eyes took notice of Kenny at the table, only now he saw him up on his feet as he gave one of the girls a kiss.

He was both equally surprised that Kenny managed to kiss someone, but disheartened to know that Kenny probably won't show those same feelings to him. Kenny was everything to him and he had developed a deep sort of crush on him over the years. He never said anything about it though cause what would Kenny think? He probably most likely wouldn't swing that way(the kissing the girl part just makes that notion stronger), and plus he knows not to just freely admit his crush on him. Feeling dejected he then ordered a shot of whiskey to numb the sudden emotions he felt.

Soon though he heard Kenny walking back up to where he was at with an arm around a girl, he then let them walked away with a sweet send off that he always does before he turned around and patted Wohali’s back. Wohali turned around to see his friend’s smile, suppressing the sudden emergence of those dejected feelings, “Hey Kenny, I never thought you kissing a girl in a bar was ever gonna happened hahaha.”

“First time for everything I guess, I guess I needed more alcohol to loosen up.” Kenny joked with a playful smile as Wohali stood up and they both left. He ended up having to hold Kenny up a bit as even though he wasn’t super drunk, he was still stumbling around a bit on the sidewalk in the almost nighttime sky..

“Oh I should’ve offered to take that girl back to our place ‘Hali….you should've seen her...so beautiful and….pretty…” Kenny slurred out as Wohali hailed a carriage to take them back to the hotel, “So foreign…”

Wohali helped Kenny into the back seat before sitting next to him and telling the driver where to go before he turned to face his friend, “Where was she from?”

“Germany…” Kenny slurred out. “I turned her on but….I didn’t feel turned on as much then….I do now though….” Wohali gave him a confused looked and the two rode in silence, Kenny looking like he was lost in his own world.

When they finally made it back to their room however Kenny found himself staring at Wohali in his still half drunk state of mind while said person was getting cleaned up, putting on an undershirt and and comfortable pants. Wohali then turned to face Kenny only to yelp out in surprise when Kenny moved to push him up against the wall and kiss in him a half drunken stupor. He couldn’t really get a word in edgewise as Kenny started pushing his tongue in and tasting everything inside.

Wohali’s mind started going a million miles per hour as his eyes widen in surprise, he was trying to push Kenny off and ask him what he was doing, but on the other this was the thing he would dream the most over the last 4 years. He dreamt of sex, kissing Kenny all over and taking in his sweet juices on a ranch somewhere in the west. He would dream of having a family with Kenny and living together until they were 6 feet underground.

He dreamt of Kenny rubbing his hands all over him and kissing him in lust in the early morning sun, the love so passionate that they wouldn’t get up from bed until noon and they would be still sweating and basking in the afterglow. And now he was pleasantly surprised that all of his hopes and dreams were becoming a reality despite the fact Kenny is still buzzed enough from the drinking he did earlier. He wasn’t sure when something like would happened again, probably never, and wanted to savor this moment instead of ruining it. So Wohali pushed back into Kenny’s hold, wrapping his own around his neck and kissed back just as deeply as Kenny was doing. He closed his eyes and moaned as he pushed into Kenny’s mouth with his tongue.

Wohali could feel the heat washing over him, the sparks flying and the love growing. He was blissfully happy now if only for tonight. He had a nagging feeling in his gut that Kenny wasn’t gonna remember this the next morning and they would just go along what they usually been doing. He knows he’ll be in someway hurt by the realization when the time comes and he knew he’ll just end up spending the rest of his life longing for that kiss again, but for now he just wants to forget the outside world and enjoy this moment. Kenny then swept him off his feet and carried him over to the bed where he felt like he was in total paradise from the sex that ensued.

The next morning though he couldn’t help but feel like he woken up back to reality and to bittersweet realizations. The thing from last night was probably never going to happen again, well unless Kenny got drunk enough again, but who knows when that would be. Wohali ended up staring up at the ceiling with Kenny still sleeping away next to him from the time he woke up which by now was a couple of hours ago at 6 am. He was going to pretend nothing happened, after all Kenny probably won’t have any recognition. 

He was half drunk though so there is a chance he could Wohali realized so he then just started hoping Kenny won’t bring it up. He ended up mentally praying that Kenny won’t bring it up and thus make things inadvertently awkward, but his wishes were dashed a minute later. Kenny had started to stir next to him and made a soft groan as he slowly turned over to face Wohali. He smiled as if though he remembered the events from last night.

“I kissed a pretty girl yesterday…” Kenny announced in a soft voice full of bliss, Wohali turned to face Kenny, “She was so heavenly Wohali, long dark hair, beautiful dark eyes. tan skin…”

Wohali realized that Kenny’s descriptions matched up with how he looked almost from the get go, this confirms that Kenny remembered the make out sessions yesterday enough to not try and convince him that he didn’t do anything stupid. Luckily he thought he didn’t seem to remember who exactly he had sex with, “What was the girl’s name Ken?”

“She never said, but she looked Native American I believe, I don’t know what tribe though, but it doesn't matter…" Kenny said before he smiled, “We both had a great time and we both got lost in our private world....I wonder what her name was?" 

Wohali then had an urge to just lie about it and play to Kenny's mis recallment of the night before, just to let Kenny have that fantasy, but he didn't want to do that to his best friend. He didn't want to lie to the one of the few people that was employed to help out along the Trail that actually cared about him and his people. He knew lying about it would most likely be the way to go if he wanted absolute reassurance that everything would carry on as normal, but the guilt of lying would just gnaw at him for the rest of life. He was raised to never lie to anyone, and the thought of lying to someone like Kenny just made him feel sick inside.

He sat up and paused for a minute before he finally let it all out as he was gazing at the sheets in front of him, "It was me you kissed last night Kenneth..."

"What?....." Kenny was speechless now upon hearing what he just said. He now felt a gut crushing sickness in his stomach at the mere thought of hurting his friend like that. He could never deal with it if he hurt anyone in any way, he would be deeply ashamed of himself and get sent into guilt filled depression.

"I have long hair and tan skin, who else could it be. We did the deed too." Wohali added before he turned around to face Kenny, who was now frozen with shock. Kenny’s mind reoiled back to the previous night and it took a minute to connect the dots from what Wohali said to the events. He was almost going it felt like so he had to take a couple of deep breaths to calm himself before opening his mouth in what ended up with a slightly breaking voice, “Tell me the truth, I didn’t hurt you did I?”

Wohali shook head slowly before he turned to face Kenny, “No, if I thought you were I would’ve fought back…um I...I liked it, “ He said in a soft voice as he turned his gaze back to the sheets as he admitted his feelings. He figured that he might as well just come out now with his secret since he was already on this path, “I liked the kissing and the sex….I’ve been dreaming of it for so long Kenny….at first I thought it was just a fleeting thing but...I ….I understand if you want to leave right now and never look back.”

“You...you liked it?” Kenny repeated just to make sure he was hearing his friend right. He didn’t want it to be some cruel dream he was in and he would wake up to find that his innermost wish was actually coming true against the logical statistics. He could feel his hopes getting up though, he had dreamt of having Wohali for his partner, ever since he laid eyes on him and those dark brown mysterious looking eyes of his that looked like you can see into forever back at the camp 4 years ago. He instantly knew that Wohali would be the one for him when he locked eyes with him. He couldn’t describe the feeling, still can’t put it into words even now, but he knew early on there was an unspoken understanding that they were two planets destined to collide with each other.

Wohali didn’t say anything except to confirm him that what he heard was right as he turned to face Kenny and tried to read his reaction on his face. He wished Kenny would just say something, anything really. He didn’t like the silence that passed through them. It just made him start to get that sinking feeling that Kenny didn’t like him that way. Just then though Kenny leaned forward and suddenly caressed his face with one hand, running his fingers through his hair in the process as he leaned in for a deep kiss. That was all the answer Wohali needed, no words needed to be said between them. Needlessly to say they both understood in the unspoken silence where the other wanted to take the relationship too and how they really felt towards one another.

It was at this point that two planets that were in close orbit of each other on their trip around the sun finally collided and merged for eternity and beyond.


End file.
